Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Biden’s leadership released an important set of pollution limitations for power plants that will improve people’s health and help preserve a stable climate. Specifically, four power plant rules are part of the package: limits on carbon dioxide emissions, mercury and air toxics, effluent limitation guidelines, and coal ash. Taken together, the rules will reduce harmful pollution from America’s air and water, improve public health, and help preserve a stable climate. Collectively, they will save thousands of people’s lives, prevent ..read more

This post was written by former SACE Clean Energy Coordinator Julian Harden. As a longstanding asthma sufferer, the quality of the air I breathe isn’t just a topic of general concern — it’s a matter of personal significance. For individuals like me, managing asthma is not merely a routine; it’s a constant awareness of the air’s impact on our health and daily lives. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent decisive actions to fortify soot pollution regulations represents hope for people with asthma nationwide. Let’s delve into how these new regulations are not just bureaucratic d ..read more

This blog post is for general informational purposes only, and is not tax advice. Please consult with a tax professional before making decisions regarding the contents of this blog. Imagine waking up one day and finding your community transformed. Instead of smelly diesel buses roaring through your neighborhood, clean electric buses are whispering through the streets and the kids are arriving to school breathing clean air.  City halls, public libraries, health departments, and hospitals are harvesting clean energy from the sun, and storing it up in batteries to use when the sun goes down ..read more

This blog was written by SACE Decarbonization Director Eddy Moore. South Carolina Legislature Proposes to Roll Back Rate-Payer Protections Five years ago, after utility companies spent $9 billion on a nuclear plant that was never finished, the South Carolina legislature reformed the law to increase scrutiny of utility plans and support renewable energy produced by independent developers. Now, a new Speaker of the House is leading a utility-supported effort to roll back those reforms and expand gas-fired power. If passed, the bill would increase costs for residents, undermine the state’s utili ..read more

Carbon Pollution From Electric Utilities is Soaring The utilities that supply our electricity are responsible for almost one third of the carbon pollution that’s overheating our planet. Decades of dependence on fossil fuels – coal, oil, and gas – has pumped carbon pollution into the atmosphere, leading to the high heat and extreme weather that made 2023 a year of record calamity. Yet at a time when the devastating impact of fossil fuel pollution is increasingly clear, many electric utility companies are continuing a decades-old strategy of blocking and delaying meaningful changes that could ta ..read more

It took a decade to sell America’s first 1 million electric vehicles (EVs), two years to sell the next million, and then, in 2023, only 11 months to sell the next. This year, we watched as global temperatures reached record highs; while at the same time we also saw EV sales soar, making up 19% of global auto sales. All EV market indicators were up in the Southeast despite misinformation campaigns and some lousy policy outcomes.   The Southeast Is An EV Manufacturing Powerhouse The growth in passenger EV adoption is palpable. Across the Southeast, EVs are noticeably zipping along high ..read more

Drive through the major population centers across the Southeast United States today, and you’ll see an increasing number of both electric vehicles (EVs) on the roads and charging stations scattered in parking lots. You might see kids being picked up by an electric school bus, or riders hopping on an electric transit bus to get across the city. Drive through the region’s rural landscapes, and the number of EVs decreases, while massive EV and battery manufacturing sites rise out of fields and forests. The Southeast’s EV market is complex and paradoxical. Our region has captured 40% of the nation ..read more

Read the Report Communities across the Southeast, particularly frontline communities, are already living the reality of the climate crisis. Over the past year we have felt heat waves, hurricanes, and blackouts caused by extreme winter weather across our region. To avoid worsening impacts of the climate crisis, scientific guidance says we must limit warming to 1.5° C. The key to this is reducing greenhouse gas emissions. That means from here on out, every ton of greenhouse gas emitted, every resource decision to continue to rely on fossil fuels or switch to clean resources, and every policy t ..read more

We’ve already referenced the laggards or SunBlockers from this year’s list: PowerSouth, the North Carolina Electric Cooperatives, and Alabama Power. Let’s end this year’s “Solar in the Southeast” report blog series with a discussion of the Southeast leaders, the SunRisers. Download the Report  Watch the Report Webinar Read the Report Blog Series SunRisers are the seven utilities exhibiting the highest solar ambition – measured by the increase in watts per customer solar ratio between the base year (2022) and the four-year forecast (2026). Note: we do set a minimum utility size of 10,000 ..read more

Readers will know that the primary metric SACE uses for our “Solar in the Southeast” report is a watts per customer (W/C) solar ratio. But as also explained in the Introduction, we have also calculated a 2026 forecast for the total installed capacity of solar power (in megawatts, MW), particularly for state comparisons. And that’s what we’re examining in the fourth blog post associated with our sixth annual “Solar in the Southeast” report blog series. Download the Report  Watch the Report Webinar Read the Report Blog Series Let’s start with the current baseline from last year (2022). The ..read more